


Finding Our Way Home

by The_Firebird



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: All Explained Inside, Alternate Universe - Human, Dramatic Past, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, M/M, Mentioned parental abuse, Minor Character Death, No Love Lost Between Nico And Zeus, Or Leo And Zeus, it's still sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7289989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Firebird/pseuds/The_Firebird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just something I started writing on sticky notes that I wanted to continue.</p>
<p>Nico watches as his world crumbles around him. He watched his mom and sister get killed, his dad get dragged off to jail for it, and his best friend in the world break in two. These two boys grow up only ever having each other, will they make it out the same?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This Life: Up In Flames

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Second Meeting](https://archiveofourown.org/works/869907) by [Porcelain_Hell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Porcelain_Hell/pseuds/Porcelain_Hell). 



[Nico’s POV]

 

It wasn't his fault. Nico had tried to explain that to the police over and over and over again. Just because he was there didn't mean it was his fault. Nico's father, Hades, was convicted of killing his mother and sister. Maria and Bianca DiAngelo. They had been killed by Nico's...more violent uncle, Zeus. Nico had only been seven.

 

The following weeks after, Hades was sent to prison, Zeus got off scot-free, and Nico was about to be put in a foster home. He didn't trust his uncle, neither of them by now, after murdering his mother and sister and getting the blame put on his father, they were both dangerous. Zeus may have been the one to do the killing, but Poseidon believed him over Hades and was the pushing point to sent the latter to prison.

 

Nico, however, didn't want to be in foster care either. He ran to his best friend, Leo. The black-haired boy ran to the other’s house and told him all about. By the time he was finished, he was crying into the boy's shoulder and he was fighting another round of sobs. Leo was just looking at his mother, not knowing what to do. Nico had cried on his shoulder lots of times; when he fell off his bike, when his mom and sister died....and now when he was going to be taken away from everything and everybody he knew and loved. Esperanza Valdez saw the scene and rushed over to her son.

 

"Hey, you can stay with us. That way you and Leo can still go to school and you can stay in Houston. Okay, sweetie? I'll adopt you." Nico looked up at her compassionate and caring face. She was offering up her house and her life for him. He tried to thank her, but his voice wouldn't sound and he ended up looking like a dying fish. Nico settled on just nodding, hoping she understood everything that was packed in the gesture.

 

Their lives went on from there, Nico visited his father once a week, every two weeks if they happened to be doing something. Leo and Nico got along great. They had most classes together and ended up sitting next to each other in all of them. Nico was….prone to panic attacks. He remembered the night so clearly that if someone ran up to him and shook him or hugged him too suddenly reminded him too much of his Uncle Zeus shaking and banging down his locked bedroom door. It reminded him of Hades hugging him and telling him to go to the neighbors. It reminded him of going downstairs to get a glass of milk and seeing his least favorite uncle stab his sister and mother, then running to his room.

 

The only people that could ever get him out of it was Leo and Esperanza. They were always there to calm him down and make him feel safe. Esperanza had offered to see a therapist, but he had declined. He told Leo everything that happened, in his dreams and flashbacks and if he was just not feeling up to it that day.

 

One time, it had happened at school. Someone, maybe a teacher maybe a student, was running past him and bumped into him, hard. Not enough to knock him down, but enough to shake him up. Nico had been suddenly transported into the three years before. The night. Saturday, March 29th, 2003. It happened in slow motion, why was it always in slow motion? Nico was getting a glass of milk when he heard a muffled scream. He found his mother in the living room, sock in her mouth acting as a gag as Zeus stabbed her in the heart. Bianca was already dead, somehow looking directly at Nico. Zeus looked up when he heard the glass of milk shatter on the tiled floor. Nico took off at a sprint towards his room. Locking it behind him as his father struggled against his uncle. Soon there was a loud thump, and the seven year old took a chance and peaked out of the room to either hug his father or accept his fate. Luckily, Hades was still standing and hugged Nico tight.

 

 _“Run to the neighbors,”_ he said, _“Call the police. Go, run!”_ Zeus had been starting to get back up.

 

Nico had run to Leo’s house. Called the police and waited. Unfortunately, Zeus had escaped before they had arrived.

 

Suddenly, though, Leo’s face, aged four years and worry lines covering his forehead. Leo hugged Nico, not too tight, and whispered to him in spanish. Nico never knew what he said, he knew Italian not Spanish, but he watched his best friend. He watched the lines slowly smooth over, heard his own breathing fall into shorter pants and eventually got up and made his way to the nurse’s office.

 

Ever since that day the administration placed them in the same class, teachers saw how well they worked together and just placed them together. March 29th usually had Nico a bit more jumpy than other days. But Leo was always there, and he got the two out of any situation.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a day… like any other day. No rain clouds, no thunder or lightning. Nothing to make it seem gloomier than expected. But aren’t those the days, the days that are the best, the days that have nothing wrong in them. By the end of those kinds of days, aren’t they the worst days? Life likes to play with people, it will give them the best day of their lives, then end with heart crushing sadness.

 

It was just perfect that it was March 29th too, wasn’t it? Leo and Nico were on their way home from school, walking the half mile as they have been for five years, and it was a really good day. They won the capture the flag in PE, Leo didn’t catch anything on fire in science and Nico barely jumped at all.

 

It wasn’t even when they got home, walking together as they’d done for years. Esperanza was there, like she always was, eating lunch and waiting for the boys to get home to take them to the shop. They set their stuff down, she finished up her sandwich, and they were on their way.  

 

The workshop was as it always had been. Tools in place, safety guides everywhere to keep injuries from happening. Nico wasn’t very good with making something out of nothing. He couldn’t make the grandfather clocks and rocking chairs that were so wonderfully crafted by the Valdez’s. Nico wasn’t very good with people, but it was better than getting his hand cut off, so he usually dealt with the customers and callers.

 

Esperanza had a friendship with a TV producer. One that just so happened to make shows about flipping houses or remodeling or building or something. They always needed something handmade to put in the new homes and living spaces. The show gave them frequent work, needing this here and that there. Along with walk-in customers, they had a good business running.

 

With four more orders complete and three more in, Esperanza was locking up. She did it every night. Made sure machines were off and gas detectors were working. The boys always waited outside, so they wouldn’t get trapped inside. It was a good neighborhood and there was 24 hour surveillance on the place, so she never got too worried about her sons.

  
This night, though, this was the night that had something out for Nico. He was having a good day, without even a glimpse of his uncle in either real life or in his head. But this night was the epitome of his terrible life. Because, this night; March 29th, 2008, was the night the workshop went up in flames, and the night Esperanza Valdez died.


	2. This Life: Starting Anew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have three stories going right now, but I'll try to update as soon as I can

[Nico’s POV]

 

“NO!!!” Leo tried to run. He did all he could to run in there and save his mother from being burned, but Nico held him back. “MOM!!!”

 

“No, Leo. You can’t go back in there.” Nico ruled with an iron fist. His voice held enough authority for Leo to look up. “Come on, Leo.” Nico grabbed Leo and ran, ran to the neighboring store. The shopkeeper had seen what happened and was already on the phone with the police department. She offered them a bottle of water, which Nico accepted and made Leo drink.

 

“Mom…. My mother is dead. It’s all my fault. I...I left something on. It shouldn’t have happened like this. We should’ve gone home, done our homework ten minutes after she told us to, then gone to bed. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” The fire trucks and police got there right about then, before Nico could reassure him and before the former could keep the latter from running out. “My mom’s in there. She has to be alive. Did you find her yet?”

 

Nico was jogging up to Leo and the officer now. “We haven’t found anyone yet, kid. Why don’t you just stay here and wait until we get your mom out of there?”

 

“No...no. Nico...that’s my mom...Why did she….why?” Leo asked as they were led to the back of an ambulance, shock blanket settling around their shoulders. Nico shrugged his off, he didn’t need it.

 

“Taci. Sono qui. Andrà tutto bene.” Nico spoke in Italian; it always helped him when Leo used Spanish, maybe it would work the other way. Leo started to cry on his shoulder, Nico sung the lullaby he would hear every night when he was little.

 

“Sir, we’ve found a body.” One of the firefighters said to the marshall. Leo perked and saw a gurney rushed out of the burned down building.

 

“Mamá. Dormir bien, mamá. Pueden ver los Ángeles sobre ti.Te quiero.” Leo saw the reddened and burnt face of his mother, bent down to give her a kiss, and promptly turned to cry into his best friend.

 

“Let’s get you boys down to the station. We can see what else we can do down there.” Officer Rodrigues said. The two shuffled into the back of his car and drove off.

 

* * *

 

 

“So what happened tonight?” They were asking Nico now. He was surprised at the lack of flashbacks going on. Here he was, exactly four years after his uncle turned into a killer, and he wasn’t dwelling on it. “Mister?”

 

Right...they had asked him a question. So he started from the beginning. Well...not the _very_ beginning, because nobody needed to sit through that much depressing shit, but he started at the beginning of that day. Of how well everything was going, how they had gotten so much done at work. How every single day, Esperanza Valdez checked to make sure there were no gas leaks, nothing plugged in, nothing that could put anybody in danger. He explained how she had no known enemies, or even people that just hated her for seemingly no reason.

 

They questioned Leo next, at the same detective’s desk. It looked like he was telling them _everything_. Everything since from the day Nico ran to his house crying. At one point, the detective started berating him with questions. Nobody else could see it, but Nico could. Could see the well-hidden sadness behind his eyes, see the tears wanting to fall, the sobs wanting to escape. But Leo had a mask, a mask well set, and in place. He only ever used the mask in times he himself didn’t think he would be able to survive if he let everything out. Nico walked up to the pair, connected eyes with Leo, and pulled up a chair.

 

“So, where are we going to be living? It looks like everything we know and love is gone, so what is the city going to do with us?” The man looked at him in shock, why had he come up here and taken over? The other boy seemed to be faring better than most who lost their parent. But it didn’t seem like the paler boy was going to move anywhere without his counterpart, so he just continued on.

 

“I’ve looked into both of your files, and it looks like you, Mr. di Angelo, have a couple of uncles who would be fit to take care of you. In town, even.”

 

“No.” Leo and Nico said in unison. They both knew what had happened, and what might happen if they were to be in the hands of either of the men.

 

The detective sighed, “Well, if that’s the case then you two might have no other option than foster care. And trust me, a petty family feud is no match to foster care.”

 

Nico and Leo looked at each other, a silent agreement was made; no matter what, stick together. They nodded their heads and said, “Foster care.”

 

The detective stood, got a cup of coffee, and called a social worker to take care of the two. Meanwhile, Nico put the chair back and they took their original positions on the bench.

 

Nico looked at the time, it was hard to believe it was only 9 o’clock, the store having closed at eight. Although their usual bedtime was ten-thirty, Leo looked exhausted. Nico guided the other boys head into his lap, and started singing to him in Italian. The same lullaby as before, over and over, until Leo had fallen asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Nico had heard foster care horror stories. How a lot of the families just did it for the money or how some of them were abusive or it would be survival; no luxury of any kind. The social worker only took about thirty minutes to figure out where they’d be going. She had pick out another place, but it required Nico and Leo to separate, which they would not do. Nico would fight tooth and nail to stick with the only constant in his life.

 

She drove them about ten minutes out of the city of Houston. The lady that answered the door did not look happy. She held a cigarette in one hand and a toddler in the other.

 

“Another one?” Her voice was scratchy, like the cigarettes were already taking effect.

 

“Yeah, Beth. Another two, actually. Will you take them?”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” she turns to yell into the house. “Nancy! Kate! Show the new ones around!” Beth turns back to Nico after two teenagers show up behind her. “And what are your guys’ names? I’ll need that if I’m going to take care of you.”

  
“Nico di Angelo and Leo Valdez.” Nico stepped forward to shake her hand and motioned for Leo to do the same. Once that was done, they followed the two teenagers into the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the awful translations if you speak italian or spanish. Here are the translations from Google Translate-
> 
> Italian: Quiet. I'm here. Everything will be alright.
> 
> Spanish: Mom... Sleep well, mama. May the angels watch over you.
> 
> These translations are really rough, I'm sorry, but it's what I got from google.


	3. This Life: Getting Aquainted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize, I had to edit some small things on the other chapters. Mostly just things that don't change the story line at all, but let it make a bit more sense. And I have no idea how foster care actually works, so I blame my ignorance for any and all mistakes.

[Leo’s POV]

 

Esperanza Valdez was dead. News about the fire would be everywhere soon. They, including Nico, didn’t have much, but what they had was good. Their family had been broken and put back together, one time with a new piece attached. That was why when the social worker lady told them they’d had to split up, he reacted almost violently. He had been clingy and on edge for the better part of the hour, he knew, but he couldn’t lose somebody else, not so soon. If Nico were to leave now...Leo wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He wouldn’t do anything stupid, but he wouldn’t be the the same Leo Valdez Nico had known. But, Nico made it so that they would be able to stick together.

 

Nico was...perfect, in his own right. He was everything Leo wished he had himself and some things he didn’t. Nico was cold and secluded where Leo was warm and social. Nico made people avoid him and Leo was vulnerable to almost any treatment. Nico and him had an unspoken rule of sorts; protection. Nico never let Leo get walked on. They were together pretty much 24/7 anyway. And Nico never, _ever_ , got bullied. He used to, before they lived together. The older kids would make fun of him for his paleness, his hair, dyslexia, ADHD, the fact that he was new, that he almost exclusively spoke Italian. They would make fun of anything they could see.

 

That was ultimately how they became friends, Nico had just gotten done with the group and searching for Bianca at lunch. She had a much better span of English, she was in fourth grade and didn’t have as much time to learn it naturally, so she had after school classes, so she tried to get Leo to go away at first. Nico had been telling his sister about what had just happened, and Leo kind of understood what was being said. Turns out, Spanish and Italian are so close that a lot of the words are the same. So, Leo started speaking spanish to them. He hung out with the two at lunch every single day. Leo and Nico started to teach each other their languages, Spanish and Italian. By the end of that year, kindergarten, Leo and Nico were best friends. They each had one friend, each other. Anytime that Nico would get bullied, Leo would tell them off, then talk bad about them in a mix of Italian and Spanish only the two understood. It was one year before the murder of Maria and Bianca, and the arrest of Hades.

 

But back to his daydreaming, Leo and Nico were now twelve years old. They stuck with each other for half of their lives. There was nothing that could take them apart for good, they would always find their way back to each other. In the five years of living together and six of knowing each other, Leo had accepted that he was in love with his Italian friend. Nico was perfect; witty, sarcastic, strong (emotionally), and he could actually put up with Leo for six years. There had only been one other person to do that, and now only one remained.

 

Leo was shaken out of his thought when Nico started pulling him up and leading them to a car, which brought them to a home that wouldn’t be _their_ home anymore. The lady told them to grab their stuff and meet her back at the car. Once that was over and done with, the social worker brought them to a house. The place was….well managed. The yard was styled; the lawn cut and weeded, the tree trimmed, but it wasn’t decorated. There was nothing to call it a home, just a house. There were no flowers or stones or anything that would make it seem welcoming.

 

As the trio walked up, suitcases in hand of only their most precious items and some clothes, Leo felt more and more of the situation settle on him. His mother was dead, he was never going to live in that house, smell her cooking, build things, fix things, make things with her again. It was only him and Nico now, he couldn’t let that go. Not now, not ever.

  
  


They were led to a room with one mattress and a lamp. There wasn’t anything else in the room. No overhead light, no fan, no bookshelves. The room was barren. It seemed like Nancy and Kate were the only other children in the house. Leo had been right, it would never be home. They set down their bags and went to bed. It had been a long night and tomorrow would be a longer one.

 

The next morning Leo woke up with a start. He always woke up like that, weird dreams and a weirder bunk mate (Nico) were a combination leading to it. Nico, as usual, was up and ready before him. He was drawing in the journal Esperanza had gotten him that year. He had used up his last one, and his job was boring when nobody was coming or calling. He loved to draw, his favorite were drawing Greek monsters and gods. Greek history was what his father had majored in and taught at the local college.

 

“Come on, it’s Saturday, 9:30 am. Visiting hours end at 2:30 at the prison. That gives us five hours for you to get washed and dressed, for us to get down there, and to explain to him why I won’t be coming around anymore.”

 

“Okay okay. I’m getting up. How are we gonna get there? Mom would always drive us.”

 

“Taxi.”

 

“With what mon- oh that money.” Nico had pulled out a small bag filled with bills in the middle of his sentence. “And where did you get said money?”

 

“Esperanza gave us an allowance for helping her around the house and at the shop. She also told me the combination to her safe in her room. Just in case this exact situation happened and we needed it.”

 

“Why didn't she tell me?”

 

“For the same reason I have saved money and you’re dairy queen’s best customer.” Nico says without looking up from his notebook.

 

“Fair enough.”

 

Leo makes a short trip to the bathroom to get showered and dressed, putting on the toolbelt he insisted he carry around and quickly drying his hair. Nico was hiding the money in the pillow and pulling the backpack of the few things they took everywhere.

 

They made their way to the kitchen, looking for a small breakfast before they hit the road. Before…..

 

“Just where do you think you are going?” Nancy and Kate were blocking their way to the refrigerator.

 

“Right now? The fridge. After that? Prison.”

 

“What did you do?”

 

“Me? Nothing. My father? Nothing. Him?” Nico points to Leo. “Nothing.”

 

“Then why are you going to prison?”

 

“Visiting someone.”

 

“Beth isn’t going to let you go. We can’t get into the city and she will not drive you.”

 

Nico rolled his eyes. “I’ve got that covered.”

 

Nancy let Nico go to the pantry, but Kate was cornering Leo. “So what’s up with you? Are you mute? Did you do something bad and got sent to this hellhole?” Leo stayed silent, pushed passed her and went to Nico.

 

They got some cereal in a bag, Nico took out cell phone. “Hey, Alvin.” Leo shot him a questioning look, Nico waved it off. “Yeah, going to the same place. Actually, switched addresses, we are at,” He goes to look at the address. “3805 Appleberry Drive. Yeah? Okay, see you in ten.”

 

Leo shoots him another look. “When Esperanza would have to go in on Saturdays, I would just take a taxi. I kept the number. Alvin is pretty cool.”

  
Leo nods and starts eating his corn pops while they wait.


	4. This Life: Three Years In Hell

[Nico’s POV]

 

He would most likely never see his father again. He wasn’t necessarily  _ okay _ with that, just willing to accept it to keep himself and Leo out of Zeus/Poseidon's hands. Poseidon hadn’t really done anything wrong, and wouldn’t, but Zeus hated older brother. It was never explained to Nico why, but he hated his youngest brother ever since he and Maria had children. Poseidon was willing to believe and do anything his youngest brother said, even if that meant saying things to put Hades in jail, or letting Zeus take care of them one day. 

 

No, neither of them would ever get their hands on the preteens. It wasn’t like there would be anyone to really mourn either of them; all of Nico’s family either hated him or was dead or in prison, and Leo’s only family left was Nico. They could only trust each other, and he might be superstitious, but he already knew that. Leo knew that before they even became friends, before they even officially met. Nico had been weary of people since he came to America, which was his mother’s dream. He only trusted them less as the older kids in his school started picking on him. He only started trusting Leo once they made their own Spanish-Italian language, and that took six months. Nico had trusted his family, but now knew there was nobody he could trust on principle. Just because they had a certain pull or history with your associates, didn’t mean their intentions were good. Take Zeus for example, you’re supposed to trust your family, right? Nico did, then he watched his uncle kill his mother and sister and his entire world changed. He stopped trusting people, the only people he did were Leo, Esperanza and Hades. The people that hadn’t let him down and showed no signs of ever doing it.

 

Leo was the only person in his entire life that hadn’t left for a minute. That would come when he called, and visa versa. They would stick up for each other, already did. Nico had absolutely no motives towards hurting Leo, intentionally or not. 

 

The meeting with Hades went well, they explained what had happened with Esperanza, Leo teared up a little more but mostly contained his composure, and they explained the situation of why they couldn’t see him much anymore. Definitely not on a weekly basis. He said he’d call as much as he could, but wouldn’t be able to keep a phone, so he would only be able to when there was either a public phone or when there was a phone available in the houses. 

 

They arrived at the foster home, by Alvin, around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. As soon as they walked in the door, Beth rounded on them.

 

“What the hell did you go in the middle of the night? I wake up and you two are gone and my girls are lying about it. I could get in trouble if you go off and do something like that, then where’d I be?” 

 

Nico managed to look the slightest bit apologetic, but only for Beth’s sake. “Sorry, but we left at nine, it wasn’t like we were sneaking out or-” Beth slapped him. It wasn’t the first time he had ever been slapped, but it had been years since it felt this hard. Given by someone more than twice your size. Last time he was slapped this hard was in second grade. Their school went up to eighth, and he was only eight at the time. The fifth graders that had been picking on him for three years running were the ones to do it, on one of the few occasions he wasn’t with Leo.

 

“Don’t interrupt me. You don’t get to leave. I don’t care if you want to go and visit your daddy, I don’t care if leaving means world peace. You are going to stay in this house. Now go to your room and sit there. Sit there like the delinquents you are.”

  
  


Nico and Leo followed her instructions, if only to leave her behind. As they were walking upstairs, the former felt his cheek stinging more where he was hit. The older boy felt his face, and was surprised to feels a small trickle of a warm, sticky liquid start to seep through it. 

 

Once in the room, Leo turned around to declare...something about something else. Then his eyes landed on Nico, or more specifically, the cut on Nico’s face. He looked really worried, as he was whenever Nico showed the slightest sign that he was hurt, but this looked more angry than usual. Maybe it was worse than Nico thought, maybe it was just because it came from what was supposed to be a parent.

 

They sat there for hours, cleaning the cut on Nico’s face and talking in the language only the two of them would ever fully understand. They were together almost 24/7, but seemingly never ran out of things to talk about. At one point, a couple hours later, Nancy knocked on the door. 

 

“Here, Kate is down there distracting her. I could only sneak one up without her noticing, but at least you won’t starve.” She was holding with chicken, rice and steamed vegetables. Nico and Leo both thanked her and told her to pass the message to her sister, before she went back to the kitchen after her ‘bathroom break’. 

 

They shared all of it, and wiped the plate clean. “No parent, or parent figure, should ever hit, slap, kick….harm their kid. I understand a couple of spanks when you’re five, that’s just something most parents do. But having a reaction like that be so common that your kids have a system to make sure everybody eats? That’s too far.” Leo brought up for the first time since the incident.

 

Nico smiled, this is what he liked to see. This Leo, the one that noticed every single detail like a modern day Sherlock Holmes. Leo was everything Nico strived to be. He was selfless, friendly, loyal, trusting (maybe a little too much), creative, strong and brave. He was perfect. His little freckles and elfish ears that formed his face so well. The little poof of curly dark brown was untamable and unruly...Nico wouldn’t have it any other way. 

 

He might’ve been….a little infatuated. How could he not? Leo had been his savior for six years now and, while Nico was  _ not _ a damsel in distress, he was completely and utterly in love. At least he thought he was. But there was no way Leo could know. That would ruin everything.

 

“We need to get out of here.” Leo announced.

 

“Leo? Where are we going to go? We do not have enough money to get a place for longer than  _ maybe _ a year. And we aren’t going to spend it all at once anyway.”

 

“We will go on the run, use the money for food and drinks when we need it. Get a new foster home, something. Beth obviously does a lot more to her kids. Nancy won’t turn her back on anybody and winces when she reaches out too far. Kate does all she can to get the attention on her, either to protect Nancy or let her heal. I don’t know. But I’m not going to let that happen to you.”

 

Nico sighs. “Fine. Get all of your stuff packed tonight. I’ll wake you up around seven, the girls get up at eight. Will leave then and start walking. Where do you want to end up?”

 

“Dallas?”

 

“Okay...about 240 miles. You sure?”

 

“Yes.” 

 

* * *

 

The next day started their trip. They walked. And walked. And walked and walked and walked. They made about forty miles per day. And not a word of complaining from either of them. They both carried water bottles with them and small bags of trail mix. Whenever they got hungry, they would just go to the nearest supermarket and get a premade sandwich. All in all, they hoped it would end quickly. It took just under six days, they had just found a park to sleep in for the night when a cop car pulled up and the officer stepped out.

 

“When are you kids going home? Curfew is 10 and it’s eight thirty, do your parents know you’re here?”

 

Leo was the one to speak, “We don’t have a home. We were just going to sleep here for the night and keep going.”

 

“Why don’t you two come with me and we’ll see about getting you a home?”

 

They looked at each other, “Fine, sure.”

 

They walked to and stepped in the car, as they drove, Nico and Leo started to move towards each other, just leaning slightly, but neither of them noticed or said anything. The officer soon filled the silence. 

 

“You two brothers or friends in the system”

 

“Both, kind of.” Nico said, not knowing what to say, really. They were legally brothers, but that was only a document. They were really just best friends that couldn’t be separated no matter what. 

 

“I’m going to need a bit more detail, kid.”

 

Leo took over. “We’ve been friends for years and my mom adopted him when…..things happened.” That was one thing they never really talked about. That night. The one that both ruined his life and made everything better. Nico had lost so much that night, but gained some too.

 

“And where did your mother go?”

 

Leo looked down at his lap. “She...recently passed.”

 

“Ah, sorry kid. I know how that feels. Lost a couple of partners on the force.” He said as they pulled up to the station. 

 

_ THAT’S NOT THE SAME!  _ Nico’s brain wanted to yell.  _ YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO WATCH YOUR UNCLE STAB YOUR MOTHER, OR WATCH AS THE BUILDING CRUMBLED AROUND YOUR ONLY FAMILY!!! _

 

The process went very much the same as the last time. Landing them in a house that was very open about abuse. They ran away from that one, too. They jump from home to home. Some of them okay and some of them left them bloody. It was like that for years. One of them locked them both in a room and only let them come out for food. That one was, by far, the hardest one to leave, but Leo still had his tools and they escaped.

 

Sometimes they would be really homeless. They ran into street gangs and got beat up. They settled on teaching each other to fight. Fight the right way, too. They never focused on blocking, but dodging. 

 

One time, someone was drunk on the streets and looking to rough somebody up. They won that battle with their dignity in tact. Other times it wasn’t a fair fight and they got their asses handed to them.

 

The savings were never really tapped into, not once they learned to pickpocket. They only stole small amounts, things that could help them but would just be a missing annoyance to the other people. 

 

They stuck together throughout it all. Never once leaving each other’s side. Until, one day they were going to a new home. Because they still did that. They always preferred a warm bed over the cold night. And while a lot of them sucked, they were guaranteed a full meal and shower. They could fight, but never fought parents. That was one thing they would never do. 

 

That one day, going to the new home at the fresh age of 14 in Manhattan, New York, they showed up at an entirely not-foster-home building.  _ Mr. D’s school for troubled youths  _ read the name. This was a place for kids that came from houses that were not safe and needed somewhere to get an education and a better life than they had.

  
Nico and Leo fit in the criteria. They gathered their bags and set off to join the place they’d -hopefully- be staying for the next couple of years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for any and all mistakes about foster care or...just any mistakes. Correct me in the comments, and I'm looking for a more appropriate to the story title, any suggestions?


	5. This Life: New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know how boarding schools work or anything so I kinda just went with an indoor Zoey 101 thing/ the mall in my town. I am so very sorry.

[Nico’s POV]

 

The place look like any boarding school or college. Clean, but not spotless. There are people sitting by themselves and others in groups with as many as 20 or 30 members. Most people looked happy; laughing and smiling without a care.

 

Nico and Leo were led through several corridors and passed hundreds of doors. They followed the dean of the school to room 013H and watched as the she took a kay from her suit pocket and opened the door for them. The inside was plain; having two beds, one in either of the back corners of the room, two desks flanking the bed, and a storage chest at the foot of each bed. The rest of the room felt barren, foster homes didn’t have much in way of comfort, but usually there was at least a closet or some paint to give the room a lived-in feel. The only other things in the room was one desk lamp and an overhead fan/light.

 

The dean handed them their keys and schedules, telling them she would send a student to show them where their classes were in the morning. She walked back to her office without so much as a goodbye.

 

Leo took his suitcase, the one he’d brought from his house originally, and started packing his things into the chest in front of one of the beds. It only filled to about a quarter way, but that was expected. Nico went about doing the same, folding all of his clothes and placing them in his own chest. They’d had a lot of experience moving into new houses and leaving soon after. 

 

Nico didn’t get many panic attacks anymore, really only on March 29th, the anniversary of both his and Leo’s mother’s deaths. Leo never got panic attacks, he was always stronger than Nico. But they had both learned to be extra cautious on that day. Too hard of knocking, a reminder of Zeus’s pounding on his locked door, slaps or hits or anything that would be considered a fight, his father and uncle duking it out in the hall, Zeus trying to get to Nico and Hades trying to protect his son. And Leo, who had an affinity for fire, was always super careful not to start one, especially on that day. Leo had never given up his hobbies, especially not the ones including fire. He would always make sure what he was doing was as safe as it could be, though it got them kicked out of a few houses here and there. Nico, however, if he saw an open flame on that godforsaken day, he would be on the ground within the next minute. 

 

“Hey, stop thinking like that.” Nico smiles, Leo always knew when he would start thinking about things he shouldn’t.

 

“I still don’t know how you do that. Can you read minds now?”

 

“No, but I can read you. Don’t think about those things, we still need to figure out what kind of place this will be.”

 

That was part of going to a new place. Observe for a day, look at how people move and talk. Watch for signs that they are just putting on a show. Wait for the shoe to drop, and when it does, flee, as fast as you can.

 

“Nico?”

 

Nico looks up from his things.

 

“We’re going to be here for a while, huh? This won’t be a place to ditch. This might even be a… a home for a while.”

 

“I hope so, Leo. I really do.” It was early into the night, only about five pm. They left the room and the entire dorm part of the building. 

 

The place was much like a mall, but a lot smaller. On the sides were dark brown walls with light gray doors, down the middle were small student-run kiosks to buy things like clothing or school supplies. On either end there was a large building, the left being a cafeteria and the right the classrooms and office. Kids of every grade and age were seen walking around. Everywhere from eight to eighteen. This looked like a safe place to grow up, it had staff to enforce rules and lots of people to make friends with. It looked like the kind of place that they should’ve gone to in the first place.

 

The two of them make their way to the cafeteria, where they found rows of every kind of cuisine you could imagine. It looked like you had to pay for all of those, with either money or these weird ticket stubs students had. All the way down there was a line of free lunch, still worked by students. The lines were fairly evened out, though the free lunch had the longest by far. They still had no idea what the school was about, how so many students there was yet there was absolutely no public knowledge about it. 

 

In the middle of freaking New York there was a gigantic school that looked like a set from a movie. Leo and Nico got in line for the free lunch and found that there was actually some decent food being offered. Nothing like the choices you would have to pay for, but better than most of the public schools they went to. There was salads and fruit cups and burgers and sandwiches and many more. For drinks, there were choices of water, milk, juice and some off brand sodas. 

  
  


Nico and Leo sat by themselves at one of the many many tables that sat about. Nobody approached them as they ate, caught up in their own conversations and not giving them a passing thought. On the way out though, Leo almost crashed into another student, before Nico pulled him out of the way. The guy stumbled and looked at Leo. 

 

“Sorry dude, I think I need glasses.”

 

They were kind of average height and had sandy blond hair. He was wearing a purple shirt and loose, but not quite baggy, jean pants. He was also fiddling with a golden coin in his hand, the way Leo would fiddle with wires and things. 

 

“Oh, it’s fine.” Leo responds.

 

Glasses extends his hand. “Jason Grace. You guys new?”

 

“Uh, yeah. Just got here today.” They both shake his hand.

 

“If you need someone to hang out with, or some _ ones _ , just give me a hollar. My friends are cool.”

 

“Okay.” Leo and Nico turn and walk back to their room, by now it was about 6:30, but they had done a lot that day and were tired. The pair left their room to find the bathrooms/showers. They had spent hours trapped in that car and had gotten into a fight the night before.That combination meant a shower and eight hour rest (at least) ASAP. 

 

They went through their nightly routine and showered, towels provided and soap could be bought in the front for $0.25, and left ten minutes later. They went to bed at 7 pm….and were rudely awakened at 8.

 

Jason Grace was on the other side of the door. “Hey, I saw you guys go in here earlier, I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the campfire.”

 

“The what?”

 

“Once a week they have a campfire thing in the courtyard. That’s where all the sporty types go or if you just need some fresh air. They have a firepit and we roast a whole bunch of marshmallows and stuff. Do you wanna go?”

 

Nico steps in front of Leo. “Not tonight, but I do have a question. Where does the school get all its money? I never heard of this place before today. How does it have all of this stuff?”

 

“Mr. D, as he insists everyone calls him, is in a rich family. He decided to open this place for kids that don’t have a home, whether it’s because of bad homes or lack of one. It’s a safe place for kids to get a good education. Sometimes there is a donation here or there. The place saves money with all the students working jobs, they get paid in those ticket stubs I’m sure you’ve seen, and pay for stuff like that.”

  
“Okay, thank you. See you around.” Nico shuts the door, not meaning to be rude, but wanting to go back to sleep. He does just that.


	6. This Life: People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Jason seems a bit intrusive and clingy, but he is just wanting to be friends. He would back off if they didn't want to be friends, but they are genuinely interested.

[Leo’s POV]

 

Leo liked the new school, he didn’t trust many people or places easily, not since Nico got slapped by a ‘parent’. But he trusted Nico, the one person who had stuck by him for as long as he could remember, and Nico seemed to trust this school. The pair could read each other like a children’s book. If even the slightest thing was off they could tell, usually. Sometimes things weren’t as obvious, like if one was sick. If one of them was sick, they would find a foster home -or stay in the current one- until they get better.

 

Nico was the one who usually called the shots when they moved, so Leo never really minded when he took over with greetings and authority (be it ‘parent’ or police, which they had run into many times over the years). He had taken over at the first home, when Leo was so distraught he could barely put one foot in front of the other, that he did it almost automatically in new places. Leo could, of course, do anything he really wanted to do. As long as he didn’t spend what remained of their money or go off and murder someone, he could explore as much as aforementioned authority would let him. The thing was, he didn’t want to.

 

In the days of going to school and then working at the shop after, Leo was social -at least more social than Nico. Now, though, after not being able to trust people because he had been beat more than enough times, either by parent or tough kid on the street, and stolen from, after so many bad memories of abuse and scars to cherish them by, Leo had become more closed off than he had been. So many people had treated him badly over the years that he hadn’t known what to do when Jason was being so nice. They had moved from Houston, Texas to Manhattan, New York, mostly on foot. From time to time there was a destination in mind, like the first time, and even more rarely a police officer or somebody would offer them a ride.

 

So Nico took over in those situations because Leo couldn’t. He had once asked about it, about how he knew what to do and how he handled everything so well. Nico had only responded with a shrug and explained how his mom and dad had taken them from Italy to America. A whole new country with new rules and a new language. He had watched his mom, who had also never been in America, but also his dad, who was returning home. He watched as his mom as she made friends with the neighbors, learned English in a night school and went to work when she was fairly confident in her abilities. But he also watched his dad, and how he helped his mom through all that by politely correcting her when she made a mistake, how he took it all in stride, how he made sure everybody was taken care of before he took care of himself. Nico did those same things with Leo, and Leo tried to do so with Nico. If they got one plate of food for dinner, they shared. If one needed sleep, the other watched over them (especially if they were on the street for the night).

 

The next day Leo woke up at his usual 7 am, still an hour after Nico when they went to bed at the same time. They used an hour to get dressed and ready for breakfast. They walked down the rows and rows of closed shops on their way to the cafeteria. The line wasn’t nearly as long with so little people awake, so they sat down in the corner around ten minutes later. After five minutes of eating and talking, mostly about what they will do about classes and such, none other that Jason Grace sat down next to them.

 

“You guys don’t look like you’re going to ever socialize. So I am here to make you at least _meet_ my friends. The dean sent me to show you to your classes anyway. It would be easier for me if you just go and meet a few of them then show you around than to hunt you down later. Please?”

 

Nico looked at Leo, Leo shrugged. Silently, the pair stood and followed Jason to a table with a group of three people sitting at it. Jason kept standing as he introduced the people. Percy Jackson: an average height and build 16 year-old with black hair and sea-green eyes. Loves the water and goes to the beach every day he can. (it might be a secluded area, but the ocean was only about half a mile away) and captain of the swim team (Mr. D’s family must’ve put a lot of money into this place), also Jason’s boyfriend. [Fourth wall break: fuck you percabeth. Gay ships are yay ships. Feel free to shout at me in the comments.] Piper McLean: a bit tall for girls her age (15 ½) but head held high. Dark chocolate brown waves fall from her head into a french braid, with kaleidoscope eyes sparkling at the world, the strong female character exudes confidence and is utterly beautiful at the same time (not that Leo doesn’t have enough eye candy with Nico, but wow). Loves gossip and can predict a relationship months in advance, but can also throw a mean punch. And finally, Annabeth Chase: 16 years old, average height and breaking all blonde jokes with eyes which looked through your eyes and into your soul without even meaning to. Too smart for her own good and loves books and reading. Can tell you anything and everything on Greek and Roman mythology (her favorite subject) and is not afraid to correct you.

 

Things went smoothly after that, Leo and Nico not participating much in the conversation and occasionally looking over at each other, gauging the other’s comfort level. Hazel Levesque, a sort of retro girl that loved horses and wore lots of jewelry, and Frank Zhang, a muscular guy with such a baby face Leo sort of wanted to pinch his cheeks and give him butterscotch, made an appearance ten minutes later. They talked and laughed, paying no unneeded attention to the newbies in the group aside from the initial introduction. They all acted as if this was a completely normal occurrence for them, and Leo could see that they were relaxed and trusted one another, but had learned not to take that path. People could trust one another but not be trustworthy to you. However, Leo had seen no malice intent in any of them. Just a bit of friendly teasing, telling old stories (like when Percy had somehow made a water fountain explode) and being friends. He could tell Nico was watching too, but  was more relaxed than he usually was with strangers.

 

After breakfast Jason showed them around the school. They met their teachers and were shown where the gym was. There was anything you could find in a regular school, but things were a bit better. Looking around took a half hour, ending ten minutes before the first bell, and the three of them ran back to their respective dorm. Nico found a letter taped to the door telling them they could use the day to get situated then start classes tomorrow.

 

The rest of the day was spent like most of their days, but with freedom to do almost anything. There were about one hundred students walking around on a free period. Some were working the kiosks, others were shopping at them, some were just standing around with their friends. Nico and Leo sat at one of the many tables going down the middle (one of those circle ones you see at a lot of schools) and people watched. Well, Leo was watching, Nico had taken his notebook (the sixth one since they’d started this endeavor, with a countless number of pencils). The pyromaniac looked over to the older boy, noticing his drawing. He found a work in progress of what he knew was going to be their family. Bianca, Esperanza and Leo were already drawn, and Nico was working on Maria.

 

“Come on, we are heading back to our room.”

 

They both stood, Nico with a sigh and Leo with his ‘no funny business’ face, as the former once dubbed it. As Leo shut the door, Nico sort of crumbled onto the bed. These things were prone to happen to both of them. Leo was more susceptible, but that was mostly because Nico’s episodes usually turned into a full-blown panic attack.

 

As is was, no words were needed. Leo just sat next to Nico and let him cry on the younger boy’s shoulder. He knew what the Italian was thinking, feeling, right now. It had happened numerous times over the two years they had moved from place to place. It happened when they moved to a comforting place or their walls broke a little. The former caused memories of Esperanza’s house and home cooking and working in the shop. The latter was just because, though those walls kept people at arm's length (except for one person in particular) and made them slightly paranoid (but hey, they were always [usually] safe), they also kept back the memories of the fateful night that brought Nico to Leo’s house, or the other night that changed both of them forever.

 

Right now, Nico was reliving everything he held behind those walls. This was usually when he would go into a panic attack, especially if they were on the streets that night. But Nico and Leo just held onto each other as every memory, every painful flashback, reminded the older boy of what he once had. The home he used to have, both of them. Leo just held him through it. Soon there was a knock on the door. Leo answered it. It was Percy and Jason.

 

Percy spoke. “You guys didn’t show up at lunch and we thought you might be in here. We wanted to see if you wanted to hang out, we could get you a job, maybe. That way you wouldn’t have to always get the free lunch and you could get some clothes and things. Most people don’t come here with much.” A sniff was heard behind Leo. “Nico? Are you okay?”

 

As they tried to push into the room, a barely audible hitch in Nico’s breath was heard. Leo blocked their path. “He’ll be fine. I’ve got him. I will see you at dinner. What time is that, again?”

 

“We get there around 6, but it starts at 5. We always meet at the same table, the one from breakfast. We could pick you up if you want.” Jason offered.

  
“Sure. See you then.” Leo closed the door and practically ran to the other boy. The younger boy lifted the older, but lighter, boy into his lap. Nico cried all of his tears out in the next ten minutes. It was still 3:30, but Nico and Leo were exhausted. Together, as they both were still leaching comfort from the other, they laid down on the bed and fell asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Percabeth shippers, but I had to. I, personally, don't ship Percabeth, however, this story focuses on Valdangelo. The brief mention is all I have planned for Jason and Percy. As for the fourth wall break, that is the first time I've used one. Don't expect more of it.


	7. I'm Done With Starting Chapters With 'This Life'

[Nico’s POV]

 

After the run-in with Jason almost seeing him at his worst (not that he cared, but if they were going to be friend he would want to make a good impression), Nico wiped up his tears and took a shower. Leo was hovering, as usual, but this time it was more mother-hen-like than any of the other times. He was always like this after an episode like that. Nico just laughed it off like he usually did, and Leo did too when their rolls were reversed.

 

They both left for dinner at 5:45, but actually sat down right around six. Piper and Annabeth were already there, sharing a room let them leave at the same time. 

 

“Nico, Leo. So you’ve decided to join us or is this a little test run.” Piper asked in a playful tone. 

 

They looked at one another, and came to a conclusion. “We’re joining you.” Leo answered. Nico was more jumpy than usual after a day like today. 

 

They joined in on the conversation from time to time, but was otherwise lost on what it was about. Soon enough Jason and Percy showed up and it turned to a conversation involving their so-called ‘horrible’ teachers. Many of them happened to have Nico and/or Leo in their class, so they were thoroughly warned.

 

Nobody would have known, not even Leo, but Nico was scared shitless. New school, new people and the first time since third grade he was going to not have Leo in his classes. The only person in this world he trusted wouldn’t be there most of the next day. Nico was shoved into the memories, memories of panic attacks. Well, the aftermath of them. He was in the halls of second grade, the first time back at school after the incident, and everybody was standing around him. At the time, all he noticed was Leo’s face and his voice, soothing him into a somewhat calm state. He remembered the whispers, the deadly glares from Leo, the therapist recommendations. He hadn’t needed a therapist, he didn’t need the drugs for anxiety or someone to talk to. Nobody really understood his predicament. No school counselors or therapists could realize that all he needed was time. He was only six and his mother and sister had just died right in front of him, so what if he was a little jumpy? Of course he was paranoid, his life had been ripped apart and put back together with pieces either missing or out of reach. He only had two people in the world, at least only two that could be there for him.

 

It wasn’t Hades’ fault and Nico never blamed him. There were steel bar separating them, so of course he couldn’t be there for every thunderstorm, every field trip. But Nico showed him pictures and every time Hades ruffled his hair (when possible) and said something along the lines of ‘Nice job, Little Man’. 

 

Nico shook himself out of his memories in time to see something he hadn’t in a long time. Leo was smiling and laughing, genuinely. It sounded like the group was recounting some old prank war that went on between five of them, Frank was the ref and therefore off-limits….until the third round. He had accidentally been hit and roped in. But Nico hadn’t seen Leo truly happy, even for a little bit, since before they left Texas.

 

Nico had been skeptical about this group in the hours before dinner, but now he was thankful to them, thankful to this group of people that could get Leo to forget  his troubles for even a few moments. Nico opted to spend more time with them, if this could become a common thing. The Italian stayed quiet, afraid of breaking the comfortable and light atmosphere with an out-of-place comment. The school of sorts was a place for troubled kids, and hell if he wasn’t one of them. People seemed to have an understanding; ‘both of our lives were fucked up if it landed us here, don’t acknowledge it and we’ll be friends. 

 

Dinner ended soon but the group didn’t separate, instead they walked over to the classroom area and to a door labeled ‘ _ broom closet _ ’. Inside there were stacks of board games and books. There were laptops and chargers and an art corner, but there was also a corner that looked reserved for fighting. It was filled with hand to hand combat safety gear and various small weapons.

 

“What’s with the swords?” Leo asked.

 

“That is for everybody. None of us like PE very much, but we all still want to keep in shape. Coach Hedge, the one who gave us this room, cut us a deal. He could give us training on whatever we want for thirty minutes a day and make that our PE class. We also use it whenever one of us needs to let off some steam. Whether it be a fight between two of us or because of a classmate being stupid. We come here and throw some punches.” Jason explained. 

 

Everybody else had relocated to the chairs and couch, either reading, playing a game or surfing the web on one of the computers. Hazel was drawing on one of the easels in the back, seemingly engrossed. None of them looked even mildly uncomfortable with them, unfamiliar people, being there. 

 

Once he was sure there were no more questions, Jason went to Percy, who was setting up a game of Monopoly, and set his pieces on the board. Leo and Nico soon followed him, not knowing what else to do and feeling comfortable enough with those two at least. 

 

The group left around eight that night, without finishing the Monopoly game, and the newest people in the group were surprised to see people still bustling around at such an hour. The broke off into their separate rooms and soon it was just Nico and Leo once again. 

 

“So, do you trust them? Is this home now?” Leo asked nervously, the carefree façade gone now that they were alone.

 

“I want to trust them and I want it to be, but I just...can’t yet. They need to earn trust, as much as I hate to say it, because I won’t have my trust be broken again. Nor yours. I want you to be able to let your walls down to somebody besides me, I want to do that too, but….it might take a while. I say we just do about daily business and do that when we’re comfortable.”

 

**\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

[Annabeth’s POV]

 

“They are totally crushing on each other.” Was the first thing Piper said when they stepped into their shared room.

 

“You don’t know that, they just got here, probably from a bad place. They are pretty much brothers, don’t get ahead of yourself again, Piper.”

 

“Okay, I might’ve been wrong about you and Percy, but I was right about Hazel and Frank. Nico and Leo pretty much only look at each other, like they don’t have time for anybody else….in a not-rude way.”

 

“You missed it but I pretty much only looked to Luke when I first showed up. Trust me. Don’t do any matchmaking, it will only make them not trust you.”

 

Piper groaned, “Fine, but I’m calling it now. I bet a lunch that they will be together by next year.”

 

“Deal. With absolutely no meddling to push them together.”

  
“Deal.”


	8. Oh Sh*t!

[Leo’s POV]

 

The next day spelled, no,  _ reeked _ of trouble. It would be the first time Nico and Leo would be separated for more than twenty minutes in two years, and even before then they were always together. They had shared classes since the second grade and Leo had been there for every single episode since. Now they were going to be alone practically all day, with only two classes together. There was also lunch, but it was still after three hours of school.

 

Leo was nervous about Nico the entire first period, but he still managed to get his work done and tried to catch up with what they were doing in literature. They were still on opposite sides of the building for second period, social studies, so Leo didn’t even get to assure himself if Nico was doing alright. History was so much harder to focus on in regular school, Leo was a hands-on guy. His ADHD barely let him stay in his seat all day, let alone do nothing but read something out of a textbook which happened a gazillion years ago. Luckily he had woodshop next, where he had the most experience out of everybody in the class (and therefore never needed to ask the teacher anything) and got his project a third of the way done in one period. 

 

When he finally saw Nico heading for the lunchroom, Leo ran towards him. The Italian was paler than usual, but continuously told his companion he was fine and it was just first day jitters. They sat for lunch closer than usual, but if anybody noticed they said nothing. 

 

Leo laughed and talked (and made sure Nico did too) before lunch was over. Once again they separated and the latino boy couldn’t focus. He had the last two periods with his best friend, so he could get some peace of mind at the end of the day. And Nico had at least one of their friends in each of his classes, it served to give Leo the smallest amount of peace at mind, but the time still came. The point both teenagers knew would come at some point in their stay, ever since the day they arrived. 

 

Jason hurriedly opened the door to his classroom not even ten minutes after class had started, panting and seeking Leo out before the door was even fully open. The teacher went to tell him off, but Jason ignored him. He said one word, one fateful word which would always have Leo following him.

 

“Nico.” Jason breathed, whispered really. But Leo could recognize the word even if he were suddenly deaf. 

 

The latino boy raced out of his chair, faster than anybody except his lifelong companion had seen him move. Jason had a headstart, being at the door, yet he still fell behind. His teacher was yelling after him, but to no avail. The pyromaniac knew where every single one of Nico’s classes were, and had no trouble navigating the mostly empty halls. 

 

Leo burst into the room, where all eyes shifted from a form laying on the ground to him, but only for a moment as the new person made his way over to his best friend. Leo could see the teacher trying to calm her student down without luck, she was informing Nico the nurse would be coming soon and they would ‘get him all fixed up’. But it only served to make the Italian even more terrified, afraid of more people taking him and giving him drugs to ‘get him fixed up’ and knowing Leo would have no idea where to find him if he were in an unfamiliar room to himself. 

 

Gently, as to not seem rude to one of his own teachers, Leo pried her off of his best friend. He then proceeded to force Nico to look into his eyes, all the while the teacher was telling him what proper etiquette was when handling a panic attack. About how you weren’t supposed to restrain them in any way and keep your distance, he heard the other students whispering to one another about suspicions on whether they were a couple, or talking about them as the ‘weird new kids’ (even though it should be something normal for a school for ‘troubled youths’).

 

Leo soon turned to them and yelled for them to shut up, a fire in his eyes which hushed them into stunned silence as he tended to the only one he had left in his world. The nurse soon opened the door, having a wheelchair to carry Nico in. Leo needed to get his friend to a place with less people, less people staring at him, calling him weird. The mechanic had no doubt in his mind Nico’s brain was translating it to the bullies who would find anything and everything they could to use against Nico. Jason offered his help to get him in the wheelchair, but the pyromaniac declined, opting instead to carry his antisocial friend to the nurse’s office. His friend who had his fist knotted in the mechanic's shirt the whole way there.

 

The nurse, Nurse Joy, said nothing and lead the pair to her office. Leo noticed how many rooms there were and decided Joy couldn’t be the only caregiver here. She was a smart one, noticing they didn’t need any help and just telling them to inform her if it changed. They sat there, like any other time, and just waited for the air to calm, to sit in the silence until they couldn’t wait any longer to say what needed to be said. 

 

“I don’t even know what it was this time. I was just there, writing a paragraph, citing evidence, then I was cowering in my room. This time….this time there were flames everywhere. I was trying to hide but there were flames lapping at my skin and I had to run out or the smoke would get me. I saw my father and my uncle, fighting tooth and nail. Then I was running...I was running to your house. I can still remember the turns and street names. I knew I was running there, but it wasn’t your house. It was the workshop. You were outside crying and I didn’t know what to do.” Nico had tears streaming down his face. “Then you were there, real you. And we were going down the hall, then we were here.”

 

They stayed there for a little while longer. Nurse Joy went in to check on them and asked them if they were up to the last two classes of the day or if they were too drained. She seemed to know what she was doing, how to handle panic and what state it left you afterward. They left for their last two classes, which they had together.

 

The pair just waited outside the door until the bell rang about five minutes later. They stepped into the math class and sat down next to each other, in the back with nobody behind them. Class soon started and the period went as it should, maybe with Leo being a little bit more protective than usual, but they didn’t know and what did they care?

 

The last period they sat nearby as well. Annabeth was in the class and saw the slightly off behavior in Leo, but shrugged it off as something they did. She had only known them for a day and a half, two if they were counting halves, so she couldn’t place their behavior in the ‘typical’, ‘abnormal’ or ‘something’s wrong’ boxes. 

 

**\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

[Jason’s POV]

 

Dinner that night is a bit awkward. Jason had told everyone about the episode from 5th period, and though none of them looked down on Nico for it, they didn’t have anything to talk about. Every topic could go back to something which could be a trigger, hell, he didn’t even know what those triggers were! It resulted in them eating in silence. 

 

“Something had to happen all day, you guys all look depressed.” Nico said, out of nowhere. Everybody stared at him, shock marring their faces. Even Leo was looking at him with a mix of shock, pride and hope on his face, though the boy himself was staring either ahead or at his tray, avoiding everybody’s eyes. 

 

Piper was the one who recovered first, telling a tale of some guy in her class who would not stop poking her and kicking her chair, then continued to speak about anything and everything that came to mind since nobody else could think of any topics to start. The conversation went somewhat normally from there, though there was a tenseness in the atmosphere which wouldn’t dissipate. 

  
They soon made their way to their room. The monopoly board was still set up, but they bypassed that to sit on the chairs. This happened every time someone new joined their group, the last person being Piper. None of them liked to do it, but they needed to understand what not to do and why. They wanted to be there for their friends, but at the same time they didn’t want to relive their past. Nobody said anything for a while, then Annabeth started speaking….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, the next chapter will come out soon. I wanted to get this one out ASAP and I can't wait to put all my ideas on paper....metaphorically. There won't be anybody's POV on the next chapter, as it will be all of their stories, but I will specify whose it it. Thank you for reading and leave a comment if you like it, leave a comment if you don't. Even if you just want to say something not pertaining to the story at all.


	9. Backstory Backstory Backstory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For people like Hazel and Frank, who have mostly magical backstories, it was a bit more difficult. Sorry about them being shorter, but still.

_ Annabeth _

 

Her dad always told her about her mother, about how she had died soon after Annabeth’s birth. He told her stories about Athena’s intelligence and how she was the best archeologist her company had seen. She had been so smart and kind, and he told her he could always see it in her. 

 

She could see his emotions as if they were written across his face with a marker. He loved her, it was clear, but he was mourning the loss of his wife. Frederick wasn’t a bad father, despite what people might assume, but he needed someone in his life to lean on after the previous person was ripped away.

 

She was five when he met someone, Eleanor. They dated for a while then got married not even a year later. Helena had known about Annabeth from the start, even had two boys of her own, but she hated the young girl. 

 

The five year old saw how happy her father finally was, so she endured the verbal abuse when he was at work. She never told her father about her shopping expenses or about the way she was left out on everything they did when Frederick wasn’t home. There had been one day when she had a nightmare about spiders crawling from the ceiling and attacking her. Her father was working the night shift, so when she tried to wake Eleanor and ask for some milk or water, all she received was a slap and instructions to go back to bed and never wake her up again. 

 

So Annabeth did just that. She still thought telling her dad was the wrong thing to do, as he was happier than he had ever been before. Finally, when she was seven, they had lost a lot of money in investments. They could barely pay the bills in the apartment meant for three, holding five. Instead of assuring the kids about their financial situation, she drunk herself into a stupor and blamed it all on Annabeth. Once she broke the wine bottle over the young girl’s head, she was done. 

 

Annabeth had stood to her full height, which was still and unimpressive 3’7”, but managed to push Eleanor to the ground and run to her room, grabbing all of the clothes and bathroom items she could fit in her first and second grade backpacks, including the golden-brown switchblade she had found and taught herself how to use out of innate curiousity.

 

And she ran. She ran and ran and ran until her short legs couldn’t take her any farther. She lived in an alley for a week, starving herself because she they didn’t have any money for her to steal, though she wouldn’t, given the chance. Two people found her, a blonde boy with broad shoulders (Luke) and a sort of gothic-punk girl who always wore her ‘sacred’ leather jacket (Thalia), both were about eleven years old at the time and took her in. 

 

A few months after, Luke was caught stealing things from a store in one of the towns they passed. He couldn’t escape and they were forced to leave him behind. Not too long after, Thalia and Annabeth were approached by a group of hunters, they took the two to a police station, who brought them to the school. On the way, there was an intersection where a someone ran a red light and hit the car. 

 

The driver died, Thalia went into a coma and Annabeth had to be hospitalized for over a week. She still visited the hospital whenever she could, it was just outside of Manhattan anyway. She was the first of the group to arrive at the school and she was alone.

 

* * *

  
  


_ Jason _

 

He had had a sister, but never remembered her name. He remembered a person, seven years older than him and totally opposite him, who loved him more than life itself. But his mom went crazy kept, talking about gods and how she was the most fit mortal. How she was the best in the land. Begging to a husband long gone to come back.

 

His sister had tried to protect him from all that, but she had no idea how to take care of a 1-year-old who couldn’t even talk, being eight herself. She ended up leaving him in a basket in front of a summer camp cabin. Jason could still remember the way she had stood in the shadows and waited for the door to open and him to be taken inside, before running into the night.

 

Jason had spent years being taken care of one person with an affinity for wolves, Luna. She was the activities director at a summer camp and loads of fun, but not fit to be a mother just yet. She hadn’t known how to deal with the times he had gotten himself in trouble, just sending him to the administration office like she did with the other kids. Jason never had a doubt in his mind that she loved him, she just wasn’t ready to take care of a kid.

 

Luna had eventually taken Jason to the school, as soon as it had opened, when he  was almost seven. The twenty-year-old had known she wasn’t quite ready to raise a kid, but she still visited him every year for the holidays, but Jason hadn’t seen his sister since. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


_ Hazel _

 

She was born December 17, 1968. Her mother had always been crazy, it was a wonder why child services hadn’t taken her away the day she was born. Hazel’s father had left them when she became too crazy, telling the girl he would come back for her. But he never won custody. She had been in regular schools and things when her mother proclaimed herself to be a witch. Marie somehow had gotten everybody in town to believe her, selling ‘cursed’ jewelry, and soon went bankrupt. She had moved Hazel up to Alaska, where she said it had more magic. Marie had constantly gone cave exploring and left Hazel to fend for herself. 

 

One night, she had followed her mother into the cave she had been looking for since they moved there. Marie had found what she was looking for, and destroyed the cave wall trying to get it out, the cave collapsed on top of them. 

 

Marie had died, and Hazel had been sent into a coma for years. The dark haired girl was technically forty, but her brain had been as good as dead in the hospital, so her body hadn’t grown at all and let her stay eleven. 

 

She had asked the doctors why they hadn’t pulled the plug, she felt so alone and miserable until going to the school to catch up on studies and try to fit into the new society.

 

* * *

 

 

_ Frank _

 

His mother was a commander in the army with her husband, leaving their kid with Emily’s mother. Helena Zhang was nearing the end of her time, about to tell her daughter and son-in-law to come home, so he wouldn’t have to watch as his grandmother died, when she received a letter telling of Emily’s and Ares’s death. 

 

Helena told her grandson tales about their ancestors, about how there was power in memories. She told him to remember his mother and father as he did, and not to let those memories be influenced by outside opinions. She had taught him how to hunt, how to act like a bear to the point where he was not only confusing the real bear in front of him, but himself as well. She gave him the knowledge he needed, then lay in bed to let the old age consume her. 

 

Frank had gone into the woods, lived there until he was twelve (four years). Feeding off of the wild and hunting. When people found him, he was dirty and had at least three infections of various cuts. They sent him to the school to study. 

 

* * *

  
  


_ Percy _

 

His mother was the best in the world. Every year she would make him a blue cake for his birthday, blue pancakes for breakfast on special days, blue everything (it was their favorite color). Everything was going great, but whenever he asked about his father she always told him he had to go. She wasn’t bitter about him leaving, Percy could see that much, but she was sad. 

 

Sally went back to dating once her son was nine and could be trusted not to burn the apartment down. She met someone, a guy name Gabriel Ugliano. She was in love, and Percy had been happy to see his mom happy. They had married when Percy was eleven, but things had gone downhill. 

 

Gabe had moved in once they were married, and quickly made the place a pig’s sty, as opposed to the uncluttered area they had before. Gabriel did nothing, no jobs and nothing could get him out of the house. That left Sally to be working almost constantly in order to make sure Percy made it to school on time, pay the bills, try and make the house somewhat clean and make dinner. 

 

On top of that, Gabriel gambled all of their extra money away. On Saturday’s he and his buddies played poker in their home, if he lost, Gabriel would beat Percy until they had both passed out. It was never anything super painful, just some bruises or black eyes, a concussion once, a broken arm another time. Percy kept the injuries to himself as much as he could. His mother already had so much to deal with, so he patched himself up and played it off like he tripped at school. 

 

So many of his friends from school asked him why Sally didn’t just divorce the assbag, but they didn’t understand the amount of money attorneys and days off from work it would make them lose. That and his mother thought she could get the love she had felt in the beginning back. 

 

When he was twelve Sally walked in on a beating. She instantly pulled her husband off of her son, then received a slap in the face also. Percy, enraged by the act, pulled himself up and grabbed a baseball bat, knocking his step-father out. 

 

The school had contacted the two of them while Sally made Percy get checked out in the hospital. He had enrolled not long after the scene and called Sally whenever he could, saw her on holidays and summer, and she finally divorced Smelly Gabe, a nickname he earned when the house smelled 500x cleaner once he left. 

 

* * *

  
  


_ Piper _

 

Piper McLean seemed to have the life everybody wanted. But being the daughter of one of America’s most famous movie stars wasn’t the glamorous life people expect it to be. She was constantly followed by paparazzi, never had friends because of them and was ignored by her father. 

 

Piper could have anything she wanted, her mother was a beautiful fashion designer and her father was a rich movie star, but the one thing she wanted couldn’t be bought, her parent’s attention. They were amazing and she had a great time whenever they did spend time together, but that was the problem. Her mother was always in Milan or France or some other fashion capital and her father was always doing movies in New Zealand or Canada. When they were home, they were constantly working on acting or sketches. She just wanted to get yelled at for breaking a dish, or called out on lying, or given a small yet heartfelt gift for her birthday. 

 

Her parents couldn’t see that she didn’t need a fancy chef or a walk-in closet. She needed a day at the beach or a pizza night with her family. Once she turned eleven, she was known for stealing little things while her parents were home, if only to get them to lecture her. By the time she was fifteen she stole a car, which placed her at the school. 

  
Her parents had thrown enough money at the press and local cops to not put her in jail, but they had sent her to a school in hopes of her learning to be a better person. She had explained to them why she had done it a year ago, they had understood and apologized but let her stay in a place she was truly happy with her friends. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't get why I made Frank live in the wilderness for four years, it's from when his mom and him encountered that bear from the woodsy backyards. Any questions on these just ask in the comments.


	10. The Filler Chapter Of <cite>This<cite> Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's hope that title thing works

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update since thirty seconds after posting originally, it did not. But it was supposed to Italicize the word this

[Leo’s POV]

 

Leo listened to everybody’s stories in silence. He wasn’t surprised by any of them, and it seemed they already had a system. Most of them looked like they had already shared their stories to the group, so it was just that, telling a story. Annabeth and Jason were the most calm and collected, having told their story six other times, at least. Piper and Hazel were the newest ones before Leo and Nico, so they stuttered a bit more through their story. 

 

When Piper was nearing the end of her story, Nico’s hand found his. It was a way to communicate between them, they had been in situations where they needed to lie or give/get support without talking or looking at each other and found a system. It was mostly used in situations like when a ‘parent’ would be beating them, one that never wanted kids but wanted a job even less. They would be in a shared room, refusing to separate even if the option was there, and any noise they made would result in an adult barging in and slapping one of them. Slapping, punching, anything they could try to shut them up.

 

So the boys had learned what certain touches meant, this one was giving and taking support and courage, it was steeling emotions invisible to the outside eye and putting your strongest foot forward. Leo gripped the hand in his, sending everything the italian boy needed. 

 

As Piper finished her story, Jason started opening his mouth, perhaps to say they could tell them whenever they wanted, that it didn’t need to be that day. But Nico had already steeled himself and started his story before the blonde could interrupt, and the latter snapped his mouth shut.

 

Nico told them everything, staring at the distant wall as he recounted everything from moving in with Leo, and why he needed to, to coming to the school. Countless times he paused to breathe and squeeze Leo’s hand, particularly when his parents died, then when Esperanza died and again the time Leo had broken two ribs in a fight and had to get to a hospital, then put in another home where they were beat. 

 

Nico told them everything except his secrets, the ones only Leo knew and ever would (most likely, Nico wasn’t really one for sharing) know. Like the fact that Nico was gay and how to bring him out of a panic attack, even if it had only ever worked for two people. Or just how often those episodes occurred. 

 

Nico finished with arriving at the school, and people were staring at him. Nico squeezed his hand, sending encouragement through the simple touch. Leo began like his best friend had, but starting instead with the day his italian best friend showed up at his door, crying about his mother and sister in mostly Italian. 

 

He explained how they had taken Nico in, and how they’d always been more friends than brothers, because they rarely ever fought. He told the room about how they didn’t have time to fight once the workshop burned down, too busy worrying over each other and standing up for each other to fight. 

 

They obviously argued from time to time, but nothing that would ever count as a fight. Nothing that would have them not talk to each other for days on end. Arguments were disputed in that same day, if not within the hour. And it was only for things like care of the other before themselves. 

 

He finished where Nico had, Nico having had explained almost all of their experiences together, which took up a good 70% of their lives, so Leo was done pretty quickly, having only filled in the experiences which had differed between to the two. It was eight thirty when they had finished, and Nico was fidgeting. 

 

“Hey, guys. I think it’s time for bed for us.”

 

“Wait, is there a phone we can use? Payphone, classroom, anything?” 

 

“Yeah. Over at the bathrooms, just not in the dorm ones. Most kids have their own phones, which you can buy for a week every year with a discounted plan. It’s a special deal with Verizon. Why?”

 

“There’s someone I need to call.”

 

They left. Nico had only brought up his father once and nobody pressed him for more information. The two best friends went to the phones, pulled out two quarters, and called. Nico had long since memorized the number for the police department in Houston, since before they even left the city. They were a bit lenient on Nico, his dad was their most well-behaved prisoner and it was clear how much Nico loved him. 

 

He dialed the number and it took three rings for the line to pick up. “Houston, Texas state prison. How may I help you?” 

 

“Hello, this is Nico diAngelo. I am trying to speak with my father, Hades diAngelo.” Nico stated, formal as ever. 

 

“Nico? This is Rachel. I haven’t heard from you in months. Granted, they had me on the floor for a while, but I heard you don’t call much and haven’t been in for the past two years. You want to talk to your dad?”

 

Nico smiled at the name, remembering the familiar redhead who had been the first to greet him for almost three years straight, and kept saying at least ‘Hi’ when he was there if her schedule was changed around. “Yes, if he’s available , please.”

 

“Of course, just give me a minute to get him. I’m gonna transfer this call to one of the other phones. Give me a minute.”

 

It had been nearly two months since Nico could call, and he missed his father so very dearly. In all honesty, Leo missed the man too. 

 

Nico took a deep breath as the line transferred, Leo wrapped an arm around his shoulders in support. Nico took a visibly deep breath as the connection stabilized and they heard the voice he had been waiting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the late update, but school started and it slipped from my mind. This is what I can give you, unedited. Damn, I need a beta. Anyway, leave any complaints in the comments.


	11. The Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the conversation between Hades and Nico and Leo

[Nico’s POV]

 

Nico waited for the line to pick up. He waited to hear the voice of an innocent man in prison. The line was opened.

 

“Nico? You still there?” It was Rachel, still. But she was in a more open space, less like an office and more like a cell. 

 

“Yeah, I’m here. Is my dad there?”

 

“He’s here, I’ll put you on the phone.” 

 

Static filled the audio before it was clear again. “Hello? Nico?”

 

“Dad.” Relief filled his voice. 

 

“Hiya, kid. How are you and the human flame thrower?”

 

“We, uh, we’re good. We just got to this new boarding school type deal for kids like us. Kids running from place to place without stopping and others who have homes that are just bad enough to land them here.”

 

“That sounds good. So you’re out of those homes now? You have a bed each night?”

 

“Yeah. It looks like we’ll have a home again. The people here all have their own story, but it seems like they’re all nice enough. You know how that’s turned out before, though.” 

 

Nico had told his father everything, even the few times they were on the street for a night or two and realised how not nice people can be. Leo and Nico were inseparable for a reason, when they did get separated it led to one of them being hurt, usually.

 

“And how’s your head, son?” He was talking about the panic attacks, how he was transitioning from moving around every other day to having a home. 

 

“I’m...I’m good. I’m really good.”

 

“That’s good to hear, son.” 

 

“Yeah, uh, we made some friends. Some people who have worse stories, some who have better. It’s a pretty safe place, it seems. There’s food and classes, there’s a warm bed and a shower every night. I think I’m really going to like it here. This bunch, they’re really understanding. Everybody goes through their own shit, everybody has their own story.” 

 

“Hey, when did my little Ghost King start cussing?”

 

“Scusa, Papa.” 

 

“Do you remember why we started calling you the Ghost King?”

 

“I can’t say I do.”

 

“Well, your little buddy came up with it, from that little card game you guys played. Magic myths or something.” 

 

“Mythomagic.”

 

“Right. Anyway, you guys were playing that over at our house. You loved to play the ghost and the Hades cards, said they reminded you of you old man. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be flattered or offended, but you looked up with the biggest smile on your face and I couldn’t be upset about it. So, you would always play those two cards, and you would win, too. Leo would call you the ghost king because of the way you knew how to use those cards. The way you would always know when to use them to do exactly what you wanted. You mother always tried to get you into chess, because you could see three or four moves ahead, but you liked the myth part of it. You were always interested in what we couldn’t see, but what people were so adamant were there.”

 

“Yeah, I still remember a lot of that stuff. The myths and the legends.”

 

“You read so much of it I’m sure you did. You were so young at the time, barely out of kindergarten, and you were reading words I couldn’t pronounce now.”

 

“Yeah….” The conversation died off right there. “Hey, I have to use the bathroom. Do you want to talk to Leo?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Kay.” He handed the phone over to his best friend. 

 

**\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

[Leo’s POV]

 

Leo took the phone. Handing the phone off without divulging all the important details meant he couldn’t, or didn’t want to. He didn’t want to look weak in front of his father, no matter how many times he was told he wasn’t. “Hello, Mr. diAngelo.”

 

“You know we got over formalities long ago. How is Nico, really?”

 

“He’s….we’re in a better place. He was a bit upset yesterday, had a routine cry session. Then around one-thirty today he completely broke down. I think he fell asleep in class, not used to being awake and paying attention the whole day, or maybe he was just not used to being able to relax and he did more than he meant to, ya know? But I think he fell asleep and had a nightmare. It wasn’t a flashback, what he told me was full of things that never happened, time lapsed and pieces missing. We heard some stories and told our own, and I think he’s going to get better. Start trusting a couple people other than the two of us. 

 

“I’m not saying I don’t have problems with trust, oh I most certainly do. But he just had his taken away and exploited at such a young age and too many times, ya know? I’m not trying to say anything against your family, but he was hurt, a lot, by them. Then betrayed by the justice system because there were older people who said things against him, who lied and assumed because they couldn’t see how a lawyer could lie, or be misinformed. And he saw it as his uncles, whom he loved and trusted, completely betrayed his family and hurt him in every way possible. And he saw you and my mother, even myself, as the heroes, the only people who stood up for him and believed him, who didn’t disregard him because he was six and didn’t know much english.”

 

“Yes, I know. He has had a difficult life, especially at that point, but he should relearn those parts. Please help him, Leo.”

 

“You should know, that’s not even a request, that’s my job. Keep him safe and away from those who I know for certain will hurt him, while keeping him as happy as I can. I….I love him, Hades. I couldn’t bear to see him hurt, he acts like he is so unimportant, and I don’t know what I can do to show him he is more important to me than the sun rising in the morning.”

 

“Just remember, you hurt my boy and I’ll find a way to hurt you.”

 

“Hades, if I hurt your son I’ll hand you the knife. I will never intentionally do anything to him that would possibly hurt him, and if I do it will never be on purpose.”

 

“So, enough about that. How are you, Leo?”

 

“I’m better, keeping an eye on Nico, trying to become friends with this group of people, they’re all pretty cool. They mind our feelings without making a show of it. Like earlier, at dinner, they were pretty silent during the first part, not wanting to say anything because they didn’t know if Nico was still raw from the attack. But Nico spoke up and Piper, bless her, started talking about her teachers and it went on normally.”

 

“Sounds like a good group.”

 

“It is.”

 

In the background there was some distant mumbling. “Sorry, Leo. I have to go. Tell Nico I love him and he can call be back anytime. Just try to do it before five, so before like six or seven for you. Now that you guys are close to a phone, I think it would be better to abide by the rules. I have been running on favors for a while, and I think it’s just because Rachel likes Nico and you.”

 

“Of course, talk to you soon, Hades. And know that Nico loves you too, so much. I do too. You’re the only family we have left, of course we love you.”

 

“You’re such a sap. Bye bye.”

  
“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And if you didn't get it from context, 'scusa' means 'sorry'. I apologize if I used the wrong form, but I do not know Italian. I want to learn, but I do not have the resources. I deemed it apropriate for the sentence.


	12. The Past

[Nico’s POV]

 

Nico shuffled off to the bathroom after handing off the phone to Leo. He knew what to say, Hades was his family as much as it was Nico’s. So Nico left so Leo could talk to him about the things you just couldn’t say in front of Nico diAngelo. Things that might just have the call ending a bit early, or things you didn’t want to say in front of him, because he would just wave you off.

 

Nico knew these things about himself, he would wave off concerns about him. Sure, Leo and his father had a right to worry about him, but he always had put them before himself, and always would.

 

Especially with Leo. Where Hades was, it was hard to make sure he was alright. You couldn’t tell as much from a phone call as you could if you talked to them in person. And Nico was so young when he last saw his dad. Properly saw him. Outside of the damn prison and their meeting rooms. Last time that happened was when he was seven. The night his mother and sister died. 

 

That night, or afternoon as it were, Hades picked up the boys from Leo’s house, where they had spent the night, and had done their normal Saturday routine. They went to Blockbuster Video to rent a movie or video game for family night. Family night happened every Saturday night from six to eight-thirty pm. Esperanza came over and they would play or watch whatever Hades had approved for the night. 

 

After Esperanza and Leo left, Nico went to brush his teeth and go to bed, while Bianca and Maria stayed up a bit longer to start preparing the day-long meal for the next day, and Hades left for his office to fill out the last few leftover papers from work before going to help the girls with making the bread.

 

A normal Saturday night in the household.

 

But, as the people downstairs were finishing up, a knock was heard. Behind the door, was Zeus, for something Hades had in his office. While he was upstairs, he heard the screams of his wife and daughter fill his ears from the downstairs, and ran out to find Zeus already halfway up the stairs, on his way to Nico’s room. Hades sprinted to his son’s room, and locked the door.

 

Nico awoke to Zeus’s pounding on the door, and his father told him to run as fast and far as he could once he was outside. Hades then left the room and started the fist fight with his youngest brother. Nico cautiously stepped out of the room, and hesitated for a moment. That was still long enough for Hades to notice and command him to run, which he then did. He ran downstairs, where he saw the slaughterhouse his home had become, then ran out the door two blocks down the road to Leo’s house, wearing nothing but sleeping pants in the bone-chilling of spring at 11 o’clock at night in Houston. 

 

The Valdez’s took him inside and wrapped him up in a blanket. They told him that everything would be alright, but never made due on their promises. Esperanza did the best she could, single mom taking care of two boys like she was, and Leo was his age and did everything in his mortal power to keep Nico happy, but it was a lost cause. Nico hadn’t been truly happy since he said his last words to his mother; “Whoo! We won! High five, Leo!”. The very last family night they ever had.

 

Hades had told the court this, and Nico had both been there to testify as a witness and victim, and he had watched the news coverage of the courtroom, which showed the entire time Hades was speaking with little commentary, about eighty times by then.

  
Nico was pulled out of his thoughts when a toilet flushed behind him. Looking at his watch (which he nicked off one of the abusive pricks in the last home), he found that twenty minutes had passed and quickly washed his face. Once all marks of watery eyes and escaped tears were gone to the past, Nico left the bathroom.

 

It was a bit of a habit to walk quietly, not that it was hard in such a loud environment, but Nico heard the tail end of Leo’s conversation with Hades.

 

“I… I love him, Hades. I couldn’t bear to see him hurt..” Nico didn’t hear the rest as he walked, nearly ran, around the corner. It was out of earshot, but Nico didn’t care about that. He didn’t need to hear the rest of the conversation to know who it was about. 

 

Leo loved him. It hit Nico like a frieght train. It was both the happiest and most stressful point in his life. Well, maybe except the nights before the school, maybe the most stressful thing Leo had ever said when he was within earshot.

 

It wasn’t a sudden realization for Nico to love him just as much, maybe even more, he had figured it out long ago in the fifth or sixth foster home. But he never thought it would amount to anything. Their relationship, up until then, was just making sure the other was up and running at top performance when they really needed to run. It didn’t really allow either of them to look into the sideways glances or prolonged touches; brushes of hands, holding onto the other’s arm, even cuddling up in bed after a nightmare. 

 

There just hadn’t been time in their earlier life, but now that they were in a safe place, they might actually be able to start….something. Nico wouldn’t tell Leo right away, no, he had to work up the courage. His self-confidence was shred to pieces when it came to relationships, especially since everybody he had ever told he loved ended up dead or in jail so far. But it would happen. 

  
Soon, Nico hoped.


	13. Holiday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but just wasn't getting many ideas or getting in the writing head space, small dramas are a bitch sometimes.

[Nico’s POV]

 

The months following the first phone call were…..better. Nico wasn’t having as many panic attacks and he could call his dad more often. Nico, as planned, hadn’t spoken of what he overheard on that first call. Leo didn’t act any differently, so Nico wasn’t going to either. 

 

Jason and Percy picked them up every day to walk to breakfast, making sure they were up and ready for the day. Piper and Annabeth were usually there first, sometimes a bit delayed, either because of the tiredness Annabeth signed up for when she chose all honors or having to pick up some more shampoo or whatever at one of the student stores. Frank and Hazel joined about ten minutes into breakfast, just when it was starting to get busy. They liked their sleep a bit better, and got up at seven-fifteen, then met at a student store and headed to the cafeteria.

 

It was a pretty good system they had hashed out. Before any of them knew it, the semester had ended and they got two weeks off. Most of the kids stayed there, but some of them left to see their families. And, as much as the couples in the group loved each other, they needed some time to catch up with their other loved ones. 

 

Percy took a cab up to where Sally lived, about a twenty minute drive. Annabeth’s dad had taken a plane from SF and picked her up. Piper’s parents did the same, claiming to be going to Santa Cruz, California for their beach house. Frank flew over to Canada to ‘get more in-touch with his roots’ (fancy terms for camping without supplies). Hazel was going with him, but she brought a sleeping bag, blankets and lighter fluid, just in case. Jason was going back to visit Luna, who was still in love with wolves. 

 

Nico and Leo were planning on going back to Texas for a little while. Everybody had offered them to join, except for Jason and Piper; whose trips were a bit more personal, but they declined. At least once a week they spoke to Hades, and therefore Rachel. The redhead knew about their weeks off, and had offered to let them stay in her apartment. She had known them since they were six, they trusted her, Esperanza had let her babysit on multiple occasions. Nico was finally going to be able to see his father, instead of just hearing his voice. 

 

It wouldn’t be the first time they had ever been on a plane, but it would be the first without adults. Nico and Leo ended up having to call Rachel from multiple payphones and ask employees what to do before they even got to the right gate. After that it was smooth sailing...or flying really. They boarded with group 4 and took off a half hour later. 

 

Then there was the problem with airsickness. Nico didn’t get sick easily, despite his deathly pale skin, but planes would always ruin him. Leo wasn’t bothered much about the multiple barf bags he brought or the fact that it did happen, but he had once told Nico that what bothered him were situations where he couldn’t do anything to be useful, to help stop or lessen the pain, no matter what kind. Because that was what they did for each other. They kept each other healthy, mentally, physically and emotionally, as best as they could.

 

The actual week and a half long visit with Rachel was very pleasant. Whenever they weren’t visiting Hades they volunteered at the local soup kitchens and homeless shelters, both of which saved their asses a couple of times, and sometimes they even helped out around the prison. Just small things, like running unimportant paperwork from one office to another or sweeping the halls. The rest of the time was spent either eating, sleeping or just laying around and taking in the calm for once in their lives.

 

It didn’t matter that they were children, they knew almost everybody that worked there and just kept quiet in the breakroom. It didn’t matter that a phone went off every minute, it was calm compared to life on the streets, compared to being beat by people who are supposed to love you. 

 

That last thought made Nico uncomfortable, like they usually did, and he looked down at the small scars running over his body from two years of getting into fights. Fights where the other side sometimes had a weapon and all you had was a trash can lid. 

 

From their current position of watching Netflix in Rachel’s apartment (they knew the streets like the backs of their hands, and they could find their way back even if they did get lost. Rachel trusted them and was glad to be call them friends), Leo scooted towards Nico. A silent sign of giving comfort and showing they were open to talk, if need be. 

 

The reason Nico and Leo rarely fought and never got bored of just being in the other’s presence was because they shared everything. Absolutely everything. Not like when people share food and clothes, they shared food, clothes, fears, thoughts, ideas, nightmares, time, comments, criticisms, everything. They had even shared a shower when they were in a bind to leave ASAP. The point being, Leo knew him, inside and out. They could communicate without the need for words or even eye contact, simple body language was enough to send a simple message. 

  
Looking back, Nico was glad they had come to stay with Rachel. He had finally seen his father and they had an entire group of friends to share their experiences with. With that thought, Nico buried more into Leo and drifted off to the sound of Mulan in the background. Disney had stolen Leo’s heart while they were here, and Nico would be damned if it didn’t make his heart flutter just a bit whenever he heard his best friend singing one of their stupid idealist songs. He had really fallen hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to hear constructive criticism in the comments, I always would love to know what i can do better :D


	14. Meet Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A really short chapter but I didn't know how to transition and I'm sorry

[Leo’s POV]

 

Leo was in heaven, proverbially speaking, he stopped believing in that long ago. But seeing Nico smile, genuinely, for two weeks straight? It was bliss. Charlie had only one extra bed, something they both reassured was fine throughout the vacation and was something Leo secretly cherished.

 

Through the entire two weeks, Nico didn’t have a single nightmare. It seemed nightmares were not only chased away, but stayed away completely by the safe and secure feeling of each other’s arms. Of hearing the most important person in their lives’ heartbeat. Of being tucked close to the only person you could trust for so long. 

 

On their way back, Nico slept most of the plane ride, so there wasn’t the danger of throw up this time. Once they had landed, the older boy was awake and they were waking for Piper’s parents to pick them up and take all three teenagers back to the school. On the drive, Piper shared all her pictures from Paris and some stories, she was most likely saving some to share with the whole group, but they talked the whole way there.

 

As soon as Piper and Annabeth saw each other, the boys were ditched and the two were caught up in a hug. The four people left standing there just rolled their eyes at the best friends, before Leo and Nico bid farewell to the adults. 

 

Percy, being twenty minutes away, was there waiting for them in the classroom they used. The five of them sat talking about their times around the world. Hazel and Frank were there soon after, covered in dirt but smiling, though they only said ‘hi’ before going towards the showers.

 

The two of them missed the next, and perhaps most amusing, part. As soon as Percy saw Jason, they were together and lip locked, having not seen each other for weeks and jumping at their opportunities. 

 

“Why don’t you always greet me like that?” Percy asked when they had to catch their breath.

 

“I could ask the same to you.”

 

“Come on, lovebirds, you weren’t the only ones who missed each other. The only people who didn’t were probably Leo & Nico and Frank & Hazel.” Piper said from her spot on the couch.

 

“Like you have any room to talk.” Annabeth elbowed her.

 

They exchanged more stories, some repeating, until the, now clean, members joined them again. Then it was time for dinner, then after dinner, everyone except Percy was tired and ready to sleep off the jet lag. 

 

By seven thirty, everyone was in their rooms and Nico and Leo were showering. Leo didn’t know what was going to happen that night, whether they would sleep in separate beds or share one. He would leave it up to Nico. 

 

  
  
They slept in separate beds, at least until Leo had a nightmare and sought the comfort of his best friend. He might’ve felt a kiss pressed to the top of his head, but he might also be going crazy.


	15. Happy Birth- Wait No Not Yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, another shorter one but I've been waiting since I started this for the next chapter, so that one will be pretty much my entire heart and soul

[Leo’s POV]

 

Things resumed normally once everybody lost the excitement of reunion. They hung out in their little room, played monopoly and cards, each of them teaching each other how to con people in poker, but always playing fair in their own games. They did have games where they were allowed to cheat, though, just to see who would win and who was getting better.

 

Leo and Nico would usually win those, both of them, because they had never played against each other, and they weren’t going to start. Their tricks had always included looking at each other’s cards and trading what the other needed to have the best hand. 

 

It was a weird codependency, they were told numerous amounts of times by their friends (except Piper, she always just smiled), but who else were they going to rely on? Yes, Leo trusted the other six people in their group, and he thought Nico did too, but they only had each other for so long. There was only the one person by their side for the two years they went through hell and came back with their sanity, they would always have each other, and never drift away, because they were like….energy in a machine. No matter where it comes from, it’s always needed and can never work without it.

 

That was how Nico was to Leo. Leo needed to lean on his best friend wherever they were, whatever they were doing, he needed Nico to be there. He thought it was the same the the black haired kid, and it was proven time and time again. Nico had shown it in the small things. The comfort he sought in the midst of a nightmare, the way only Leo could sooth a panic attack, how…..how he had stayed with Leo for the eight years. How Nico ran over to his house, like that was the first place his legs took him and never even thought about going anywhere else. How he had moved in and never complained about Leo’s annoying habits, no matter how much trouble they got them in, 

 

Leo decided he would do it. He would either ask Nico soon or do some spur-of-the moment thing. Most likely that last one, Leo wasn’t exactly known for his careful planning. 

 

The next month would have Nico’s birthday, the kid would be turning fifteen, and be able to teasingly use the “I’m older than you” excuse for a good three weeks. Leo wanted to do something special for Nico’s birthday, it being the first they could celebrate since the fire. 

 

Leo had plans on top of plans for his best friend. He would make sure Nico, at least for one day, let go of all the burdens weighing on his shoulders and enjoyed himself for a day, just one day. It would be the first in a while, the first he could relax and be surrounded by friends, instead of just the one. He was the only one in their group who could understand italian, he was the only one who knew,  _ really knew _ , the black haired boy. But they were there for him, they would be there for as long as they kept in contact, which, Leo hoped, was for a long time. 

  
  


None of the group really knew yet, despite the special day being less than a week away. They were spending their afternoons with Nico, while Leo did some ‘extra credit’. All they knew about it was that they would have to keep Nico busy for the week, and to keep their schedules open for Sunday. He wanted to have everything ready before people got too excited. 

  
The group was told on Friday, giving them enough time to get presents, if they so desired. Leo had a great feeling about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are so helpful when writing this, from motivation to advice. And (again) I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I really wanted to get it out


	16. The End, Fuck I Love This One

[Nico’s POV]

 

Nico woke up in a cold sweat. Leo had been avoiding him, something that had never happened before, in his eight -now nine- years of knowing him. No matter what, the mechanic was right next to him, but he had gotten in after Nico, forcing him to sleep alone for the first time in eight years, since his mother and sister died. 

 

That had been his biggest fear ever since that day, to be alone. He was never alone in any room or building for longer than half an hour, at most. He had never not seen Leo for more than a few hours, at most, nevermind a whole night. Now he had gone for more than 72 hours with only seeing Leo in class. Frankly, Nico was starting to panic. Two nights full of nightmares and all Nico could go to for comfort was Leo’s bed. Sometimes he would even wear Leo’s shirt to bed or under his sweater, for extra comfort and protection, to remind him that Leo was somewhere, just not in his line of sight, just not where Nico could protect him.

 

That was what they did, protected each other. And now, on his birthday, he couldn’t find Leo or their other friends anywhere. He was completely alone, having to go to classes, his friends avoiding him, and now he was going to start panicking. 

 

Nico didn’t go to class. As soon as the bell rang, he went to the nurse’s office. He just talked to the nurse all day, because he knew that if he was left in silence, the only person on Earth that could bring him out of his own head was avoiding him. He was there throughout all of his class periods, skipping lunch. 

 

It was only when Nico was called to the principal’s office did he leave. 

 

**\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

[Leo’s POV]

Leo was worried sick. He had done all he could to make Nico’s birthday special, something to be remembered, but he hadn’t seen his best friend all day. Something was definitely wrong.

 

When his best friend wasn’t at lunch, he was even more worried, when he wasn’t in seventh period, Leo was almost trembling with worry. He ran out of the classroom and all the way to the principal’s office, asking for them to call him up so he could make sure Nico was still alive. 

 

Nico walked in, got one look at him, rolled his eyes, and walked out. That was….unusual. He had the glint in his eye, the one he got when foster parents would slap Leo, the one that said, ‘I want to murder you but for the sake of propriety and the social setting, I shall not.’. 

 

But he had never looked at Leo that way. Well, Leo had never spent 3 days avoiding him to set up for a birthday surprise. The mechanic pondered the idea while running to catch up with Nico, only to find the kid running away from him. The teenagers ran all the way to the dorms, and to their room. Nico tried to lock it, but Leo just picked it. Nico punched him as soon as he walked through the door. 

 

“Do you have any idea what you put me through? You avoid me for three days, three fucking days, on my fucking  _ birthday _ , and then are concerned? I haven’t talked to you for three days, you were the only one I would talk to, a full, in-depth conversation, for almost three years! I had no idea what was running through your head, when usually I can tell from a glance. What the hell were you thinking, Valdez?” Nico asked him, holding Leo by his collar against the wall. 

 

“I was thinking I could set up an awesome fifteenth birthday party for my best friend.”

 

Nico let go, staring at the forming bruise and his hands like he murdered someone. Leo had to step forward and catch his friend before he crumpled to the ground, trembling like he was about to have a panic attack just because he hurt Leo. 

 

“Hey, it’s not your fault. I can take a hit, it’s not like it wasn’t without reason. I probably would’ve done the same thing in your shoes.”

 

“I-I hurt you. I punched you because I was upset. I’m no better than Beth or Walter or Rebecca or Peggy or Scott or Madison or…..” Nico just kept saying more names, names of any foster parent who had ever hit Leo. When the trembling kid finally cut himself off, he stared at the dark purple mark on his friend’s face. Gently, he stroked Leo’s cheek with his thumb, frowning and glaring at the offending mark. 

 

Their eyes caught, one pair of tear-filled black eyes met the soft and loving chocolate brown orbs. They both leaned forward, staring into each other’s eyes as the did it, but they each finally closed them once their lips met, There were no fireworks, no sparks, just a shared sigh between them, as if something finally clicked and they were finally happy. 

  
  


The birthday party was something special. Their whole loft had been decked out with streamers, there was a cake in the center of the room, all of their (six) friends were there, looking happy and slightly confused at the bruise, which Leo just waved off. 

 

The rest of the evening went very well. Nico was showered with small gifts (socks, art, cute little happy meal toys, a skull ring from Leo) and bigger gifts (from Piper, her parents had let her buy stuff off amazon to get it shipped to the school). Once the two were alone again, Nico almost cried into Leo again just from pure happiness. Their friends knew about them the next day.

 

In the coming months, Nico set up a party for Leo. Complete with his very own tool belt from Nico, a toolbox from Piper, and small gifts from the rest. There was a small incident with a new girl, Calypso, flirting with Percy and Leo, one after another. But all that did was make the PDA a bit heavier and their (respective) significant others more protective/possessive.

 

At the age of twenty-five, Leo proposed. It was held in Texas, in their hometown of Houston, though they would go to live in Manhattan. They even made it so Hades could be there. In handcuffs and with an officer, but he and his son were able to hug for the first time in nineteen years. They both cried. 

 

Leo finally met his father for the first time right before the wedding. Hephaestus had always wanted to take care of his son, but he had been in witness protection, having seen something he wasn’t supposed to over twenty years prior. He made sure they were taken care of, at least as long as Esperanza was alive, before they dropped off the map. Leo had tried to keep a stone face throughout the whole thing, but his mother had never said one bad thing, and seeing his father break down crying as soon as he saw Leo didn’t give him a fighting chance. He finally let go of the resentment he held when Hephaestus explained himself, that he couldn’t be there, that he couldn’t risk Leo getting hurt because he was selfish.

 

Nico got into being a forensic specialist, while Leo was an inventor for some government agency. Nico spent the entire beginning of his career trying to get enough evidence against Zeus in his free time, having no trouble dealing with the violence and murder scenes that came with the job. When he was thirty-seven and finally had enough, Hades was let go, Zeus taking his place in the prison. 

 

Leo made his name in the tech business. The government kept asking him to make weapons and such, but he refused every time. He made things like communications and computers and surveillance, but never helped people hurt others. 

 

The gang kept together throughout all of it. Jason and Percy lived only a twenty minutes away, married and adopting a little boy. Piper went on to be a recurring actor on broadway, her favorite part being Peggy in the Hamilton musical. Hazel and Frank were further up, settling in a small town in northern New York. Annabeth’s dad moved to New York, wanting to be close to his daughter. They ended up just a couple doors away from each other, but while most families might go crazy from the lack of privacy, they reveled in it. They had spent too many years apart and was taking the time they had to reconnect. Annabeth herself became a teacher at the school, having no trouble at all catching the older students up and keeping the younger ones from straying.

 

All in all, the school really changed their lives. Almost every kid that had ever attended made some kind of donation to keep it running. Almost every family was happier when the left than when they came, those who still had one. 

 

Nico and Leo lived their entire lives together, but that was no surprise. On the night Leo proposed, just before he actually did, Nico asked “Why me?”. There was no question as to what he was asking. Why did Leo seek him out on the playground, why did he not leave, why did he want to be with him now.

  
All Leo said was “Because I saw someone who looked like me, but the me I hid from everyone. Then that someone snuck his way into my heart and stuck there. Because that someone protected me and trusted me to protect them. Because who else in the world would there be for me?” Right before he got down on one knee and asked a question of his own, the question to start the rest of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go!!! And shoutout to Wild_Rye for the motivation to write. I am always accepting prompts, though I have a sabriel big bang to work on and I need to be done with that in a month. Only 7000 words to write!! Yay!


End file.
